"That Was Then, This Is Now"
By: S.E Hinton

1.Q: Who are Mark and Bryon? A: Mark and Bryon are best friends who are almost like brothers. Bryon's mother took Mark in when Bryon was ten and Mark was nine because Mark's parents shot each other in a drunken argument. They were complete opposite in looks, Bryon was big, had dark hair and eyes and referred to himself as a Saint Bernard puppy. Mark was small and had golden eyes and hair.

2.Q: Who are the two young people Bryon meets at the hospital? A: The two young people Bryon meets at the hospital are Cathy and Mike Chambers. Cathy is Mark and Bryon's friend M&M's older sister who was away at private school. She had long dark hair with long bangs, dark gray eyes, and long eyelashes. Mike Chambers was a young boy at the hospital about the age of Mark and Bryon. His room was across from Bryon's mother's. Mike was jumped by the girls neighbors and family because she told them to kill him.

3.Q: What kind of relationship do Bryon and Charlie have? A: Bryon and Charlie have had a friendship ever since Bryon dated Charlie's sister. Though they broke up, Bryon and Charlie stay good friends. But if Mark and Bryon forget to pay Charlie, he will do whatever needs to be done to get money.

4.Q: What happens at the dance? A: At the dance Bryon brings Cathy to, Mark is hurt by a boy who is dating Angela Shepard. The boy who hurt Mark was suppose to hurt Curtis because Angela broke up with Bryon for Curtis but Curtis rejected and ignored her.

5.Q: What does Bryon discover in his private conversation with Mark? A: In Bryon's private conversation with Mark he discovers that Mark doesn't feel like Bryon's mother is his biological mother but he feels that Bryon is his brother. He also discovers that Mark's "father" that he met before the shooting wasn't his biological father. His mother told him his birth father was a cowboy and he had gold hair and eyes like him.

6.Q: What happend to Charlie? How do Bryon and Mark feel about it? A: Charlie was shot and killed by the Texans above his left eye. Bryon feels like they caused this to happen because Charlie told them to be careful. Mark feels like Charlie knew the type of people who went to his bar and knew what he was getting himself into.

7.Q: What do Mark and Cathy think of each other? A: Mark and Cathy fight over various topics, like Bryon, and have very different opinions on things. Cathy thinks Mark is violent and Mark thinks Cathy is judgmental.

8.Q: What does Mark do to Angela? Why? A: Mark cuts off Angela's hair when she passed out in Bryon's car because she set up a boy to fight Curtis for her but the boy ended up cracking Mark's head open.

9.Q: In chapter seven, what does Bryon begin to discover about his good friend Mark? A: In chapter seven Bryon begins to discover the details of the incident that was responsible for Mark moving in with him and his mother.

10.Q: What happens to Bryon at Terry Jones' house? How does his attitude change? A: While Bryon was at Terry Jones' house waiting for Terry and Mark to come back, Tim and Curly Shepard came and beat him up because of what he did to Angela. Before with Bryon's old attitude he would have wanted Mark and Terry to beat up the Shepards, but now he doesn't want to get even he wants to leave it alone.

11.Q: In chapter nine, what happens to M&M? Why does this move Bryon? A: In chapter nine, Cathy and Bryon go to the hippie house to find M&M. When they do they discover he is high on acid and is having a bad trip. They take him to this hospital and meet Mr. Carlson there. This moves Bryon because Cathy was so upset about M&M and he had never felt that bad before.

12.Q: What shocking discovery does Bryon make in Mark's bedroom? What does he do? A: The shocking discovery Bryon makes in Mark's bedroom is Mark was selling LSD instead of getting a job. Bryon calls the police and Mark is arrested tried and convicted.

13.Q: How does Bryon's relationship with his friends and his attitude toward life completely change? A: Bryon doesn't care about what he used to. He asks himself constantly what he could have done differently and his life seems to become a blur.

14.Q: How does Bryon feel at the end of the book? A: At the end of the book Bryon feels worn out from caring about people and losing them.

15.Q: What do you think about this book and what life message does it teach? A: The life message the book teaches is not to take people for granted and getting even isn't the answer, because he took Cathy and Mark for granted and they both left him, and he got even with Cathy for Mark, and got even with Mark for Cathy and ended up losing both of them. I thought the book and the life messages were educating and deep.